The Offspring have made some amazing albums in their time. “Smash” and “Ixnay on the Hombre” were fantastic and are still among my favourite albums. Their last couple of attempts however have been pretty poor to say the least. “Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace” marks the band’s eighth studio album (their first in four and a half years) and I’m happy to say that, for the most part, I was pleasantly surprised!

The album kicks off with an unusual opener, “Half-Truism”. The slow, anthemic choruses are not something I was expecting from the first track on an Offspring CD but never the less it is a very strong song. Dexter Holland’s voice is on top form and we’re quickly back to familiar territory with the next couple of songs. There’s definitely a slight emo influence in some of the songs this time around but I don’t mean that in a bad way. It works well and gives the band a modern sound, whilst still sounding like The Offspring.

The latter half of this 12 track album has more of a pop punk sound to it that the first half, in particular on the acoustic track “Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?”. This half of the album sounds very much as I’d imagine “American Idiot” to have sounded if it was done by The Offspring instead of Green Day. In fact, there’s a definite resemblance between the title track “Rise and Fall” and the song “American Idiot”. That's not to say they’re bad songs, just noticeably different from the first half of the album, and not quite as good. There are also a lot of potential singles on this CD. “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid”, “Stuff Is Messed Up” and “Half-Truism” would all make great singles, making the actual first single, “Hammerhead”, seem like an odd choice.

“Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace” will take some getting used to for long time Offspring fans as their sound has changed in places since their last release. Where as it might not be the next “Smash” it is still a very good album with some really great tracks. It's easily the best Offspring album in years and well worth checking out. Definitely recommended.